Height: 19cm (7.5in)
Stoneware. Ochre body, the front applied stamped portrait relief medallion of Gordon of Khartoum in white. Inscribed to the left: ‘Governor General / of the / Soudan. 1874 / By the help of / God I will hold / the balance level / Born Jan 28 1839’. Inscribed to the right ‘Hero of Heroes / Khartoum / I decline / to agree that / your expectation / is for me’ / Betrayed Jan 26, 1885’.
A product of the national sympathy for General Gordon that was expressed following his death at Khartoum in 1885. The Government of the day was held responsible and stones were hurled at the windows of 10 Downing Street. Prime Minister Gladstone was denounced as the ‘Murderer of Gordon’. His government fell shortly after. The wave of mourning for Gordon was not just confined to Britain. In New York, Paris and Berlin, prints of Gordon appeared in shop windows with black lining. All over the West the fallen general was seen as a Christ-like figure who sacrificed himself resisting Islam.
Stoneware. Ochre body, the front applied stamped portrait relief medallion of Gordon of Khartoum in white. Inscribed to the left: ‘Governor General / of the / Soudan. 1874 / By the help of / God I will hold / the balance level / Born Jan 28 1839’. Inscribed to the right ‘Hero of Heroes / Khartoum / I decline / to agree that / your expectation / is for me’ / Betrayed Jan 26, 1885’.
A product of the national sympathy for General Gordon that was expressed following his death at Khartoum in 1885. The Government of the day was held responsible and stones were hurled at the windows of 10 Downing Street. Prime Minister Gladstone was denounced as the ‘Murderer of Gordon’. His government fell shortly after. The wave of mourning for Gordon was not just confined to Britain. In New York, Paris and Berlin, prints of Gordon appeared in shop windows with black lining. All over the West the fallen general was seen as a Christ-like figure who sacrificed himself resisting Islam.